Stabilized bacterial formulation

Abstract

Selected strains of Lactobacillus and products containing cells of the selected strains to improve breast milk for feeding to babies, more precisely to increase the levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL10 in the milk and reduce the risk that the feeding baby will develop allergies and simultaneously reduce the cause and thereby the amount of TGF-beta-2 in the milk, thus resulting in reduced risk for the lactating mother to develop mastitis.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of producing a stabilized oral oil-containing bacterial formulation, comprising: a) vacuum-drying an edible vegetable oil under conditions suitable to remove the water from said oil, b) providing dried cells of a  Lactobacillus  strain, c) mixing the vacuum-dried oil with the dried cells, and d) producing the stabilized oral formulation, wherein the oil has been vacuum-dried before mixing the dried cells and the oil. 
     
     
       2. A stabilized oral oil-containing bacterial formulation produced according to the method of  claim 1 , wherein the stabilized  Lactobacillus  cells exhibit increased survival in the vacuum-dried oil. 
     
     
       3. The stabilized oral bacterial formulation of  claim 2 , wherein the edible vegetable oil is sunflower oil. 
     
     
       4. The stabilized oral bacterial formulation of  claim 2 , wherein the edible vegetable oil comprises sunflower oil and the formulation further comprises a medium chain triglyceride oil. 
     
     
       5. The stabilized oral bacterial formulation of  claim 2 , wherein the edible vegetable oil comprises a medium chain triglyceride oil. 
     
     
       6. The stabilized oral bacterial formulation of  claim 2 , wherein the  Lactobacillus  strain is selected by a method comprising:
 a) administering cells of selected  Lactobacillus  strains to a test mouse; b) isolating and culturing spleen cells from the test mouse; c) quantifying the concentrations of IL-10 and TGF-beta-2 in the spleen cells collected from the test mouse; and d) selecting the  Lactobacillus  strain that increases the concentration of IL-10 and at the same time decreases the concentration of TGF-beta-2 in the spleen cells of said test mouse. 
 
     
     
       7. The stabilized bacterial formulation of  claim 2 , wherein the dried cells are freeze-dried. 
     
     
       8. An oral formulation for administration to a woman and improving the woman's breast milk, comprising the stabilized oil-containing bacterial formulation of  claim 2 .